The Spark in a Pearl
by joshstar1
Summary: Pearls, Servants and slaves to Homeworld. Follow the story of a lone Pearl as she fights to preserve her individuality and her freedom as she learns of true pain and suffering from both herself and others, though fights to move through all the pain and come out stronger than ever.
1. Prologue: Servitude

**Authors notes: This my first story on this website so I hope you all enjoy. There is one thing I'd like to ask, please review my story, I want to try and improve my writing wherever possible but I cannot do that without feedback, so please give me some constructive criticism.**

* * *

Burning.

All she could feel was the burning.

Her gem was formed in a vat of chemicals and minerals, twisted together in such a way to create things like her.

To create Pearls like her.

The Pearl could feel the burning liquids shaping and pressing against her gem, her newly formed conscious slowly being moulded to that of a servant gem.

Eventually, cold metal griped the gleaming white Pearl, lifting her away from the burning pain, liberating her from her troubles as it carried her up and up beyond pain and strife, towards truth and freedom.

This was not true.

Not long after she had been grabbed the pearl was released once again, flung down in to the liquids of pain and torture. This process was repeated again and again, each time searing pain embraced her, each time her form was burnt in to place, each time she was edged closer to a blissful oblivion.

Time was meaningless, this torment was eternal, a cycle of pain and punishment for feeling pain.

The metal claw griped her now painful form of a perfectly round and beautiful Pearl, carrying her away once again. However instead of going up and up to once again be dropped in to a burning abyss, the Pearl was sent off in a different direction, to a different vat.

The Pearl was plunged down, down, down, forcefully submerged in to the new black gooey substance. This liquid was a new experience for the Pearl, instead of pain and suffering she felt calm and peaceful. The liquid was cold and welcoming unlike the searing harsh aggressive chemicals from before.

It felt like the liquid wanted her to be there.

 _Obey._

It felt like she should be there.

 _Obey the authority._

It felt like she had to be there.

 _Obey your owner._

This was the truth.

 _Pearls are nothing._

This was her life.

 _You are nothing._

The Goo seeped in to her gem, conforming her mind in to a loyal servant who could not disobey no matter what, as long as the goo remained deep within her gem.

The Pearls conscious was fading, it was all too much. The Pearls gem glowed slightly before diming, signifying her unconscious state to the world around her.

* * *

The streets of Homeworld were bustling with activity, Rubies, Amethysts, even the occasional Emerald. Gems of many different types and many different casts all carried on with their daily routine.

Shop after shop lined the commercial district of Homeworld, this area was visited mostly by high class Gems, Onyxes, Tourmalines and the like. Though occasionally you could see a middle class Jasper or Emerald trying not to look out of place in such a high society district.

One of these shops in particular was a lavish spectacle, beautifully polished marble intertwined with strong firm granite pillars topped off with silver-gold metallic strips lining the walls.

This beautiful eccentric and overall successful shop catered to the crème of the high society crop, selling something that everyone wanted but only the rich could really afford to purchase legally.

This shop was a Pearl store.

Pearls were extremely expensive servants who were produced in factories and lined in shops just like this one to be sold to anyone who could afford them.

Pearls have no rights and never disobey an order, making them poplar for menial and basic tasks around the house that the rich consider beneath them.

In this particular store a single Pearl, still without its hologram, lay at the bottom of a rack. This rack held Pearl after Pearl after Pearl, each standing perfectly still unblinking and unmoving, this was also true for the Pearls in the rack behind them and the rack behind them and the rack behind them.

The Pearl whose gem lacked a hologram began to blink, this blinking grew in to a burst of light. That light formed in to yet another perfect Pearl. The Pearl looked straight forward, exactly like all the other Pearls in the shop, gazing mindlessly with no orders to move.

This Pearl was new to store, but due to the knowledge already implanted in its Gem it knew what it had to do, wait for someone to claim her as their Pearl.

All she had to do was wait.

* * *

It was a few days since the new Pearl had regenerated in the shop, she watched other Pearls come and go and while she was happy to wait she was beginning to become worried, was she doing something wrong? Why had she not been picked yet?

Since arriving in the store the Pearl had been complete perfect all through the day while the shop was open and she was sure she was mostly perfect during the night.

During the night the Pearls were almost as motionless and thoughtless as the day, but some of the pearls walked around at night, motioning small gestures to the other pearls who stayed still. After a while Pearl discovered that these minuscule movements were a form of communication between pearls, so they could talk to each other without speaking.

Which was good because speaking without being spoken to was against the rules.

After all the Pearls learned how to signal each other they discovered there wasn't much to talk about. None of the Pearls had ever had an owner meaning they had never left the shop. This only made Pearl want to have an owner even more, after all.

 _Obey your owner._

 _You are nothing._

It was all a Pearl lived for.

* * *

This was the day.

Pearl had been purchased by an Emerald.

While Emeralds were not exactly the highest on the social ladder it was still not unheard of for some to make a lot of money, allowing them to clime an otherwise rigid and vicious cast system, after all money is power.

Still Pearl thought it could defiantly have been allot worst, even if it was clear from the start that from the way Emerald dressed her that she was only wanted as a status symbol, it was still fine. Pearl knew it could be worse, Pearl also knew that her option did not mater, only her owner's opinion mattered.

Things however only got worse as time went on, as soon as pearl arrived at her owner's house she was immediately put to work preparing, for as Emerald put it. "The most important night of my life so far." Pearl did not mind though, the work was not hard and she knew it was right for her to serve her owner.

Of course preparations meant that there would be a party and there was a party, many high class gems gathered to 'Welcome the new gem to the top of the social world'.

Pearl was not treated well.

She rushed back and forth across the room carrying drinks, cleaning any mess and generally being at the mercy of the gems around her. She was pushed shoved poked prodded slapped and kicked all through the night.

Then a party was thrown the next day.

And the next day.

And the next day.

Pearl became more battered and broken as time went on, every party more extreme than the last, every guest looking for something like her that they could take out there anger on.

As time went by Pearl started to make more and more mistakes, only little things like forgetting to hang up some Jaspers coat, but it made her owner furious, she constantly talked about how easy it would be to replace her to which Pearl could only smile and nod and continue on like nothing happened.

Even though her thoughts were restricted by the goo in her gem pearl couldn't help but think to herself.

"Is this what life is like for all pearls?"

She desperately hoped the answer was no.

Pearl knew it would not be so long until she was replaced and either sold on or terminated. It would happen soon, she could feel herself getting weaker every day.

On the seven day there was another party.

Pearl stumbled quickly and lightly through the seething mass that was the party goers, she was balancing two silver trays lined with expensive exotic drinks, really she shouldn't of been carrying that many but with all the commands she was getting she didn't have a choice.

It happened all far too quickly.

Her owner in one swift movement tripped her up.

She flew across the room, the drinks she was carrying did the same.

The drinks splattered all over a very fancy and important looking tourmaline.

"AAHHH! How dare you! You miserable Pearl!" The Tourmaline slapped Pearl across the face.

"Do not fret Tourmaline." Emerald appeared, a dark smile on her face. "This Pearl has clearly become defective, I will make sure to replace her immediately."

Pearl however could hear something that tourmaline could not hear, Emerald whispering beneath her breath. "Plus if I can claim the Pearls defective I can use my insurance to purchase one of the new Pearls from the new line."

This news shocked Pearl, her owner wanted to get rid of her, to destroy her… Pearl wanted to feel angry, Pearl wanted to scream, and Pearl wanted to cry. But Pearl was a Pearl and [earls can't feel anything.

The one thing Pearl did feel was the shock of a destabiliser stabbing her in the back, forcing her to release her physical form and return to her gem.

* * *

The halls were dark.

Not in the lack of lighting sense of the word dark, but the ominous and foreboding sense of the word dark. It was like walking the path of the condemned, a path that many had walked before.

When Pearls were either broken or deemed defective they are taken to a special facility where they were 'redeemed'. In reality their gems were burnt down to their base components and reused to make more pearls.

Emeralds Pearl walked down this path in this dark facility, the path many Pearls had walked down never to return. She was flanked by a Ruby and an Amethyst each keeping an eye on the 'defective' Pearl, still there was nothing she could do, she had to follow orders.

Eventually the Ruby and the Amethyst started to talk to each other.

"ggrrrhhh, being this close to a defective Pearl gives me the creeps" The Ruby growled

"Hah!" The Amethyst laughed. "You, afraid of a weak little Pearl? There weak flimsy and harmless, they wouldn't hurt you even if they could try."

The Ruby's expression morphed in to a deep frown. "If you saw the Pearl I've heard of you'd be running for the hills, or maybe you remember what little's been said of the Rose rebellion?"

Suddenly the Amethyst turned and shoved the ruby. "You idiot!" the Amethyst yelled "Were not supposed to talk about the Rose rebellion, I don't care if her defective Pearl could take down a Jasper, the rebellion was over four thousand years ago, it doesn't matter."

Pearl listened intently, a defective Pearl who could fight? Could Pearls become more than servants? Unfortunately the goo in Pearls gem stopped that train of thought almost immediately.

Eventually after a long walk through the complex, Pearl stood before the door to the Pearl redemption chamber. The sound of grounding gears filled the room as the heavy metal door slowly slid open to reveal…

A Sapphire.

The Ruby looked shocked for a moment while the amethyst glared at the smaller blue gem. "What is a gem like you doing here?" Amethyst growled.

Sapphire simply looked up at amethyst and spoke. "I am above you, I will go where ever I want to go." Sapphire simply floated past both the Ruby and the Amethyst, surprisingly stopping right next to Pearl.

"Listen Pearl." The Sapphire whispered in a soft voice. "Stay strong, you have long road ahead of you, if you want to live then you must stand beneath the red light."

Pearl was shocked but before she could even think of doing or saying anything the Sapphire simply floated away, down the corridor back towards the light.

The Amethyst grumbled under her breath before grabbing Pearl and shoving her into the chamber.

"Alright we've wasted enough time." The Amethyst grumbled. "Now get in here and where's that blasted Peridot? She's supposed to have the machines up and running by now."

The Pearl redemption chamber was a circular room with a large circular capsule in the middle, used to hold the pearls while they were 'redeemed'. What caught Pearls attention however was a bright red light coming from a machine on the ceiling.

The Ruby quickly left to look for the Peridot who should have been running the machines, while the Amethyst quickly took the opportunity to take break slouching down on the floor with a tired look on her face.

Pearl remembered the Sapphires words, since no one was ordering her around right now she decide to quietly make her way to the area bathed in the red light.

Just after Pearl reached the red light the Amethyst realised what she was doing. "Hey no one ordered you to move! Get bac-"

 _*sssssssssssssssss*_

A hissing sound filled the room "What in diamonds name is that?" The Amethyst searched the room aggressively. "I hope that Peridot gets here soon, I don't wanna be here in this creepy place a second longe-"

*KA-BOOM!*

The room erupted in a ball flame.

Pearl was thrown violently asunder, launched straight through the ruptured chamber walls. The pain was so great she felt as if her gemstone was being torn from her body.

Pearl should have been dead.

Instead of being dead however pearl fell.

She fell deep in to the plants crust.

To a place untouched by gem kind for thousands of years.

A place forgotten by time itself, untouched and unknown covered by a veil of secrets that none had broken until this point.

Which makes sense since the Pearl redemption facility had been built over the crevice that Pearl was falling down.

Eventually Pearl landed at the bottom of the crevice, but instead of landing on cold hard ground she landed on something… soft.

Pearl landed on what she could only describe as a sponge like substance, it felt cold yet comfortable and welcoming to her.

Till Pearl felt a pull from inside her gem. It felt like something core to her gem was being pulled away from her.

Slowly a black goo like liquid ebbed away from Pearls gem, the same goo that controlled her and all Pearls for all this time.

After so long of being forced to do what others wanted her to do, the fog from Pearls mind was finally lifted. She felt a way that no pearl had felt for over four thousand years.

Pearl should have been dead, fallen like the many before her.

Instead Pearl felt free.

Free from a mental cage.

Finally free in at least one way for the first time.


	2. Chapter 1: The Climb

The crevasse was deep and dark, stretching on for miles in every direction.

Pearl was at the bottom of it.

Pearl herself however was not aware of her dangerous situation. All she knew was that for the first time in her pitiful existence she was free to think whatever she wanted, and she already knew exactly how she would first use her newly found free thinking.

 **"** **Emerald is a clod!"**

Despite the fact she was still lying on the sponge like substance, Pearl couldn't help breaking out in to her first honest laugh, finally she could think about how much she despised that double crossing monotone clod!

Now Pearl was free to think about what she want she realised it would take a long time to get use to forming her own opinion and ideas. So pearl decided to do the first think someone in her situation should do. Stand up.

Her palms dug deep into the sponge-like substance, allowing her to lift herself to a standing position. The experience of having something coiled so deep in to her gem extracted so forcefully had left her rather dizzy, but that did not decrease the majesty of what she saw before her.

Slowly a single beam of light seeped in to the cavern from the world above, that light hit a crystal embedded In the wall, that crystal began to shine with a radiance that could only be described as heavenly.

Of course the crystal reflected the light of its shiny smooth surface, this light hit another crystal, then another crystal. Light dance around the gloomy crevice until all the darkness was replaced by the radiant multi-coloured lights that shone from the crystals.

Pearl was entranced by this spectacle, she began walking slowly through the field of light truly at one with the beauty of the environment.

That was not the end of this magical moment though.

Wind began to blow, slowly gliding its way through the little hole and juts on the crevice wall. The wind turned in to sound and the sound turned into music, completely surrounding Pearl.

For the first time Pearl could enjoy music. She had heard music before but she had never been able to take the time to enjoy it. The beautiful sound lifted her spirits and filled her mind with thoughts of peace and calm.

Pearl loved the music. Pearl wished she could of listened to music more, she wished that she could use this music and her new found love of it to spite her owner, she wished she could use the music to rise above what Gems thought of Pearls.

The music that echoed through the stones inspired her. The Pearl decided to do something unheard of in all of Gem history, something that even the highest classes of gems could be shattered for.

Pearl would give herself her own name.

Pearl knew exactly what she would name herself, something that would remind her of the first time she truly felt joy.

Melody. For the sounds that made her truly happy.

The Pearl now named Melody was still enchanted by the glowing crystals on the walls. She approached one of the smaller ones and stared at it intently, she wanted it so badly…

But now she could have it, she could have something all to herself.

With a determined, free and curious mind Melody grabbed the small crystal and pulled with all her might. Eventually the crystal came free causing Melody and her new belonging to fall back down to the spongy ground.

Melody did not care about her fall though, she quickly took the opportunity to look closer at her prize. It was clear white, shined beautifully but what interested Melody the most was that it was sharp, she had not realised it was sharp before.

Sitting on the spongy floor again quickly reminded Melody that this stuff had freed her. She had no idea how it worked but she wanted some just encase.

Melody took her sharp crystal and started to cut in to the sponge, sharp clean incisions to separate a small chunk of this mind liberating substance from the rocky floor. The process was quick and simple, soon Melody had another thing that she could call her own.

Melody soon decided that it would be unwise to hold her beloved possessions in her hands all the time, so taping in to her knowledge of Pearls such as herself Melody was able to activate one of the powers of her gem.

Her gem glowed brightly, opening up a small pocket dimension inside her gem. All Pearls had this ability but their owners were often ignorant of this utility. Melody decided to make use of that now, storing both the sponge and the crystal inside her gem.

Her hands now free and her possessions safely stowed Melody decided to focus on the next important task, finding a way out of this hole. So for the first time since her fall, Melody decided to look up… and up… and up…

The crevasse Towered over the small Pearl, its rocky ridges creating an imposing and intimidating wall of spikes that climbed ever upwards. The light while still there was sparse and unsteady, barely piercing the darkness.

For the first time since her fall Melody realised that her freedom was as far away as ever, the walls closed in around her like a jagged stone cage. Melody was just as trapped as ever, and she was afraid.

Melody felt helpless against such a strong; cold, uncaring, adversary after all, what embodied all of those traits better than a wall of stone? Melody could not defeat something like that, she felt like no Pearl ever could.

Melody finally realised that she was still just as traped as the time she had spent with that socially strong; cold, uncaring, clod Emerald…

A spark was lit that day, Melody a simple Pearl managed to survive someone like Emerald. Emerald was stronger, colder and even more uncaring then any normal chunk of rock. If Melody could overcome someone as cruel as her former owner, who would shatter her for cold hard cash…

She felt like she could overcome anything.

Melody grabbed the wall tightly, she would have to leave quickly before anyone came down to see what had happened.

With her new spark, Melody began to climb.

She fitted her feet in to holes in the rock, she grasped jutting stones with her hands. Up she went hole by hole hand by hand she climbed towards the light.

She made it about a meter before she fell.

Melody did not go far, it would take more than a little fall to extinguish her spark. Almost immediately she was back at the wall grasping on to whatever she could in her attempt to scale the fearsome rocks. She fell again.

Each time Melody scaled the wall she made it a little further, every time she fell she was back to climbing even faster than last time. In her mind failure turned into progress and progress would lead her to success.

Her spark burned brighter than ever.

Melody was finally getting the hang of climbing, getting better at telling which rocks could support her and which would fall under her weight. Melody wasn't just progressing, she was excelling.

Then it began to rain.

Water began to trickle down in to the crevasse, then the trickle became a stream, and the stream became a flood.

The rocks became drenched and unstable, but Melody had to keep climbing. She had come so far she was so close! If she could just…

Melody slipped and fell.

She would fall all the way down to the sponge bellow.

This time however she would not have the will to attempt the climb again.

*SMASH!*

Melody's back burned with intense pain, because instead of falling far down to the soft sponge bellow, she had fallen on a rocky ledge just beneath where she fell.

Pushing past the pain Melody clambered to her feat. The rain was torrential hammering against the Pearl and her gem, she looked up in to the storm raging above. She was so close all she needed was just one last push.

The spark in Melody's gem flickered dangerously as it began to waver, before relighting with a fiery passion, a burning strength that she did not know she had filled her very being. Melody focussed, tensing herself, building all her inner strength.

And she leapt into against the storm.

The wind pushed against her and the rain battered her down but still she flew up and up. Her fingers stretched out in a desperate attempt to grasp the world above the crevasse, but all her fingers could feel was air…

Until they found ground.

Melody grasped and pulled, launching herself away from the last of the darkness below.

In to the darkness above.

The light Melody had chased was blocked by the storm. Around her was the wreckage left behind by the destroyed Pearl redemption facility.

"Over there I thing I see something!" An unknown voice called out.

The thought of being enslave again terrified Melody.

So she ran.

She Ran away from the death and darkness of the facility.

And in to the unknown.


	3. Chapter 2: The Troubled Technician

Dark, stormy clouds rolled over the bleak rocky landscape. The Rain came down with the strength of a thousand hammers, pounding the weak soil in a slippery mush. Lightning struck with a terrifying wrath as thunder screamed with a horrifying vengeance.

Through this cold desolate hell Melody ran.

Her light feet fought desperately to wade through the muddy soil as she struggled and stumbled against the hammering rain that threatened to end her journey not long after it had begun.

Melody wanted desperately to find shelter, retreat from the world around her while she still had the physical power to do so.

But she could not.

Fear burnt at her heels, terror attacked the safety of her mental sanctuary. The fear of being trapped again, the terror of losing everything she could now call her own. It drove her onward, she could never go back, and she never would go back. Not while she had her spark, not while she had a life to call her own.

This is why she kept running in to the unknown. The world she did know would despise and destroy her, so the unknown was all she had left.

Melody ran on and on, until the stress of running was too much for her already drained and tired gem.

Melody could no longer handle the strain. Her gem began to glow as her physical form slowly ebbed away, retreating back to her gem despite her efforts to maintain it.

As her last moments of consciousness were overtaken by the thick fog of sleep, Melody could only hope she had run far enough.

There was nothing she could do as the stress and strain allowed her mind to slip away in the embrace of unconsciousness.

Melody's gem began to glow, first a soft faint light slowly rising in intensity until it became as bright as a shining star. Melody brought her physical form together piece by piece until she could finally fully reform.

The first thing she noticed was that her gem and been moved while she was healing from the stress.

Instead of being surrounded by dirt and rocks she found herself alongside a respectable collection of tools, a large amount of which Melody could not name.

Her mind was flooded with of panicked thoughts, she had once again been captured, this was the end of the line she would be destroyed for sure.

Soon however the more rational side of her mind kicked in, if she had been captured she would have been destroyed immediately yet she was given the chance to reform. This did not make sense to Melody.

Driven by her recently found curiosity Melody left the distinctly shed-like structure she had found herself in and prepared to face whichever gem must have captured her.

What she saw however was not what she was expecting.

A single Peridot stood outside with an assortment of tools furiously working on what looked like the beginnings of a warp pad. The most unusual thing about this Peridot however was her distinct lack of limb enhancers.

The other things Melody quickly caught on to was that she was working alone perilously close to the edge of a cliff.

It came to Melody's mind disturbingly quickly how easy it would be to push her new captor of the edge of the cliff and never have to worry about her ever again, the Peridot was so close to the edge that it looked as if she might fall off all by herself.

The next things Melody thought about however were the multitude of ways her plan could fail spectacularly. The Peridot could be stronger that she looked, or even have a destabiliser close at hand, beside the Peridot hadn't done anything wrong she was probably just following orders. Just trying to sneak away seemed like the safer and easier method.

Just as Melody was about to start sneaking away however, the Peridot pulled a bit too hard on the warp pad she was working on, the part she pulled on came loose causing her to stumble backwards off the cliff.

"AAAHHHHHH!" The Peridot screamed.

Melody acted immediately.

She leapt across the ground with a strength she did not know she had and with a swing of her arms she caught the Peridot and hauled her to safety, quickly dropping her as soon as she was safe.

The Peridot looked up in shock.

"Th-th-th-thank you…" She mumbled humbly. Then her expression morphed in to one of confusion.

"Huh you're not a regular Pearl are you?" She questioned.

Melody decided now that she was caught it would be best to answer honestly. "I think I'm defective… Maybe."

"Hah I was right!" the Peridot sang smugly. "Only a defective Pearl could do something like that all by themselves."

Melody quickly started thinking about her chances of escaping. The Peridot must have seen the scared expression on her face.

"Oh no no no wait!" The Peridot yelled. "I'm not going to turn you in or anything. I seriously owe you after what you just did, you just saved my life!"

Melody managed to calm down and gave a light smile, which Peridot quickly returned.

"Um if you don't mind me asking…" Melody mumbled "What are you doing out here? I don't think it's normal for a Peridot to be out on their own. Especially without any kind of defences."

"Oh, that" the Peridot growled. "My sector manager messed up while organizing who was doing what work, when Yellow Diamond came to ask her why her team was behind schedule my sector manager blamed me for her mistake, claiming I had refused to follow her orders."

"Now I'm stuck out here until I manage to construct this stupid warp pad!" She kicked the warp pad. "And I have to rebuild my own limb enhancers! They call it a test of my skill and loyalty but this is just some ridiculous punishment for something that's not my fault." The Peridot huffed.

Then a look of realisation crossed the Peridot's face "Wait a minute… You're a defective pearl, if anyone finds you you'll be shattered immediately. You have to get of this planet if you're going to live!"

Melody perked up "Can you help me?" She asked.

The Peridot was silent for a while before finally responding. "Maybe, I mean I'd happily go against the diamond authority wishes after all I've been through. I just don't if I could get you safely off planet…"

"Tell you what." The Peridot spoke. "I'll probably be done with this project in about a week, so if you can come to my house in about a week I'm sure I'd be able to help you more. Maybe even come up with a plan to get you of this planet."

The Peridot gave a determined nod "Yes I'm sure I can come up with something, so do we have a deal?"

Melody smiled, so happy she almost forgot to respond. "Yes, yes! Thank you so much!" The thought of being so far away from her owner that she could never be found again excited Melody.

"Heh don't mention it, after what you did for me I'm 100% sure that this is a far better use of my time than anything my sector manager could get me to do." Peridot suddenly gasped. "Wait let me get you something."

Peridot started to search rapidly through her tools before bringing out something that Melody recognised as a holo pad. "Here have this." The Peridot smiled handing it to Melody.

"It's a tutorial in electronics and gem tech, I made it myself. Even got some technical information on how to do things with gem tech Homeworld would not approve of."

Peridot was practically jumping up and down with joy "I didn't think I'd ever be able to let anyone see it, but I'm sure you can find some use for it." Melody didn't understand technology very well but she was still grateful for the gift, she stored it in her dimensional pocket inside her gem.

"Now just keeping going north until you get to the city, it will be night in a few hours so be careful, you should reach the city in about a day." The Peridot turned around and quickly returned to her work on the warp pad. "Now get going, I'm going to have to work extra hard to get all this work done in time."

Melody smiled, happy that she had met someone who actually wanted to help her. Her spirt and vigour renewed she prepared to move onward back in to the unknown. Until she heard Peridot behind her.

"Pearl." She turned around. "I don't know what you've been through, but if you use to have it even half as bad as some of the Pearls I've seen." The Peridot sighed "Then I don't envy you, I'll try to help you in any way I can, I owe you my life. When you get to the city keep to the shadows, don't let yourself be seen by anyone."

The Peridot took out a sheet of paper, wrote something on it and handed it to Melody. "This is my address, see you there in a week and I'll be able to help you. Just stay safe okay." The Peridot gave a sad smile, almost as if you she didn't expect to see Melody ever again. Melody still nodded though, happy that there would be somebody looking out for her.

This time Melody walked of in to the sunset, a spring in her step and determination fuelling her spark for life. She had a goal now, get of planet. And for the first time, she felt like she knew someone who cared about her, she trusted them and they trusted her. This made Melody truly happy.

Which was good, because Melody knew she still had a long road ahead of her, at least she didn't feel alone anymore.

She wasn't alone anymore.


	4. Chapter 3: The Tormented Servants

**Author's notes: First of all great big thanks to all of you who have been reading my story so far. Its actually because I know at least a few people like my story that I keep writing.**

 **Second, this chapter took quite a long time to get done, this was because A) there a lot of things going on recently for me so this story had to take a back seat and B) The last chapter felt a bit rushed for me so I wanted to wait awhile before I made another one.**

 **Last but defiantly not least please leave me some reviews/comments, Those things are my life source when it comes to writing, if people can tell me what good or bad about the story I know what to keep doing, what new stuff to add and what to work harder on. Plus like I said earlier someone care enough to a actually write something about what I write is kind of what keeps me going with this. It can be hard to keep writing if you don't know if anyone actually likes your work.**

 **Anyway, to any of you who have actually made it this far I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

The central city of Homeworld was a humongous sprawling metropolis. By day it was a hustling and bustling sea of Gems all going about their daily lives, by night it was an ocean of enchanting lights that accented the beauty of the many glorious buildings that climbed high in to the sky.

In reality however the city was home to the rich, the poor and everyone in-between. Some areas like the commercial district were eccentrically decorated to be both appealing to the eye and to appease the higher class individuals that visited those areas.

Some areas however like the Military district, were havens of grime and sickness that, while taking up less space than the high class districts actually housed far more of the population. These were the homes of the many that as individuals went unnoticed in gem society, Rubies, Amethysts, Jades, most Peridots and many other gem types lived there.

Melody had arrived in the city just two days ago, she spent most of her time hiding in the shadow of larger buildings, factories, mansions, slums. She stayed where ever she felt safe, though moved around a lot due to gems often coming far too close to finding her hiding spots.

Melody lived those two days in the shadows, hiding from all eyes in the back alleys, sneaking over rooftops under the dark spell of night, camouflaging herself behind boxes or bins whenever necessary for her survival.

Melody feared many times that she would be caught, and she had come close to being seen many times but so far she had still managed to stay trained on her goal. Following the address Peridot had given her to get to Peridots house.

It had been tough navigating the city without being seen, but Melody had time and patience. While she had yet to actually get Peridots house Melody still had about a week till Peridot would be able to help her.

This particular night Melody was moving quietly across the rooftops. Her light feet danced silent and swift, her movements soft and assured, her form hidden beneath a large black overcoat, protecting her from the revealing moon.

One thing that gave Melody comfort on those dark nights was looking up at the sparkling lights that hung in the sky.

Stars they were called. Melody loved them, how they shone bright and strong despite the oppressive darkness. The star reminded her of the first day she was truly free, for they were radiant and beautiful, just like the shining crystals she had seen in the crevice.

This night however there was something else shining far brighter. As Melody passed over the roof of an upper class mansion she caught a glimpse of something happening in the streets bellow.

Her curiosity got the better of her, she silently crawled to a viable vantage point where she could what was happening in the city beneath her.

The street bellow was the host to a festival of lights, bright bold colourful shining beams of lights that melted together into inspiring arrays of illumination.

The Melody's eyes however were not drawn to the lights, for she realised something that now after days of running truly scared her. The shower of lights was a Gem social gathering.

Much like the gatherings that Melody had helped her old owner Emerald host, this was effectively a large extravagant party for the rich and prestigious of Gem kind. This one however was far larger than any gathering that Emerald had held, Melody would not be surprised if over half the upper class was here.

Melody in part wanted to flee immediately, but the light did not reach her in the darkness of the night. There was also something else that made her stay, there were Pearls at the gathering.

Of course the Pearls all acted as nothing more than servants at the gathering, running back and forth doing anything they were commanded to do. Melody while not surprised by this, after Pearls were treated like this all the time, still it reminded her of her days of servitude days that she remembered with both anger and sadness, actually seeing others of kind suffer like she had was truly saddening for Melody.

Melody knew that there was nothing she could do for these Pearls, not without risking herself. So Melody began to slowly move away until…

She saw something that made her stay.

One Gem in particular stood out to Melody, a single Tourmaline who appeared to be leaving the party and heading home for the night. It was the same Tourmaline who she had spilt those drinks on in her final day of servitude.

Melody remembered how Tourmaline yelled at her, called her a 'miserable Pearl'. This Tourmaline was another one of the thousands of Gems who abused Pearls due to their inability to retaliate.

Still if anything, knowing that Tourmaline was here made Melody want to leave even more. She was so distracted by Tourmaline that she almost failed to notice the lanky figure trailing obediently behind the Tourmaline.

Directly behind Tourmaline was another Pearl. This particular Pearl, like many other Pearls had clearly been outfitted to suit whatever her owner needed of her. The Pearl had a light green tint to her holographic body, and was draped in smooth silky cloths of a similar colour.

This new discovery made Melody curious and possible even a little worried, if Tourmaline treated Melody so badly in public, what terrible things could she do to a Pearl who she owned and could easily hide from the public eye?

Melody decided that she could not rest easy without at least checking up on this Pearls condition. So as the Tourmaline walked proudly away from the party, Melody silently followed.

Following Tourmaline was rather uneventful, the roof tops hid Melody well under her dark coat so none could see her and Tourmaline was rather easy to follow. These were all things Melody was grateful for as she did not wish for anything unexpected to happen and for her to get caught.

Eventually Tourmaline arrived at what one could describe as a medium sized mansion. She lazily opened the large finely crafted wooden doors and walked inside, her Pearl following quickly in her footsteps as the door slowly creaked shut behind them.

Melody realised that trying to follow through the front door would surely get her caught, instead she slipped in to the dark alleyway beside the mansion, climbed up to a balcony and continue to spy on the Tourmaline through the balcony's glass doors.

Looking in to the mansion through the glass Melody could only find one word to describe it, fancy. The mansion was very fancy, precious metals, silken curtains and everything shined to the point where having mirrors seemed rather redundant.

Melody could tell that she had climbed to a balcony on the second floor that looked down on some kind of central living area. Tourmaline walked semi-gracefully in to the room where she was greeted by another Pearl, this one had a blue tint to her hologram body.

"Where is my dinner?" The Tourmaline asked. The blue tinted Pearl revealed what looked like some kind of carbon based dish which she had kept hidden behind her back. Gems did not need food, but some Gems developed a taste for it and in some social circles food was now considered a luxury.

The Tourmaline politely picked a small piece of food from the dish, she raised it to her mouth and in one swift motion swallowed it. Tourmalines face slowly twisted from a polite smile in to an angry snarl, with disgust clear in her voice she yelled at the blue pearl.

"This dish is a disgrace!" The blue Pearl seemed to shiver slightly under her owner's wrath. She lowered her position in a vain attempt to make herself smaller and less noticeable, Tourmaline clearly noticed this however as she lowered herself to look directly in to the eyes of the blue Pearl. She spoke in a low but sweet tone.

"Don't worry Pearl." A sickeningly sweet smile adorned Tourmalines face. "I'm sure you'll make a better meal next time." Surprisingly Tourmaline used one of her hands to slowly and gently push the pearls head up by her chin, then she moved her other hand up above the Pearls head, as if to stroke her hair…

 ***SMACK!***

Tourmaline's hand came down hard on the blue Pearls vulnerable cheek. The impact of the sudden attack threw the Pearl violently to the floor, she was fortunate that the force of the fall had not damaged her gem. The Tourmaline maintained her sickening sweet voice and spoke again, her words sent shivers down Melody's back.

"You **Will** do a better job next time, I have no need for a useless Pearl!" Tourmaline picked up a glass sphere shaped like a Pearls gem, which she shattered mercilessly in her hands. The blue Pearl got the message, one more failure and she would be shattered.

"Now clean up this mess." Tourmaline began to walk away. "And after that go and clean my room, it must be completely spotless or else…" Tourmaline turned around and pointed to the shattered shards of glass. "Well I think you already know what I would do to a weak useless Pearl like you."

Blue Pearl stood back up and nodded quickly, then she went back doing what Pearls like her had to do for their entire life, follow orders without a care in the world. Tourmaline smiled a wicked smile before finally moving on to a different room.

Just as Tourmaline left a new figure entered the room. Melody quickly realised it was the same green pearl who had been accompanying Tourmaline earlier while she was at the party. This green Pearl kept walking until she reached the blue Pearl, who was still having trouble cleaning the glass shards off the floor.

The green Pearl looked down on the blue Pearl for a few seconds. Until, slowly and silently the green Pearl crouched down and started helping her fellow Pearl clean the glass off the floor.

This made Melody smile, the green Pearl had not been ordered to help the blue Pearl but she did it anyway. It meant that at least in some areas of the Gem Empire, Pearls were looking out for each other when they could.

Melody wanted to do something to help these Pearls, but she knew they would not disobey there owner while they were still under control of the black goo. This however gave Melody an idea.

On the first day of her freedom when she had fallen deep in to that crevice the controlling goo had been sapped from her by a sponge-like substance. She remembered that she had taken a piece of the sponge and stored it in her gem until she needed it, now it would be very useful.

Melody pulled the sponge from the storage space in her gem and waited. She watched and waited until the two Pearls had finished cleaning up all the glass from the floor. After the Pearls finished that task they both went to their owner's bedroom to clean it as they had been told.

Knowing that the room was now empty Melody opened up the glass door leading off the balcony and on to the second floor of the living area. She quickly recalled which door the two Pearls had passed through, so Melody was able to follow them as quickly and quietly as possible.

A door, a corridor and then another door later Melody found herself peering in to Tourmaline's bedroom. It was decorated like most of the mansion with exception of the room's centre piece, a large ridiculously expensive looking bed. Though it was quite clear from both the fact that the pillows were encrusted with jewels and the fact that Gems don't need sleep, the bedroom was probably used as decoration instead of being used for sleeping.

The green and blue Pearls were both busy cleaning the room, polishing and dusting every unclean inch. Melody knew she would need to act fast because unlike previously when she had spied on them from far away, this time she was too close to the pearls, one of them could see her any second.

So she acted fast, jumping in to the room with the mind freeing sponge in hand. Both Pearl quickly turned to her to see what the noise was and both were surprised to see another Pearl standing behind them. While the blue pearl cowered slightly the green Pearl stepped forward and spoke.

"What are you doing here?" Melody held out the sponge, suddenly realising a fatal flaw in her admittedly not well thought out plan. The sponge would probably need direct contact with the Pearls gems to work and there was no way these Pearls would let her do that considering she was an intruder in their owner's home.

Suddenly the sponge started to glow, it started faint but the light grew brighter and brighter.

The two Pearls looked slightly confused for a few second, until both started violently grabbing their heads like they were in great pain.

Slowly the black goo that was controlling them ebbed forward from their gems, it was not long until the sponge had absorbed all the goo from both of them.

For the first time in their lives both Pearls minds were clear, freed from the tainted and controlling influence of the black goo.

Melody quickly grabbed the sponge which had finally stopped glowing, while she had no idea how or why the sponge worked the way it did she was happy it did work. While she hoped to find out one day, as long as it worked when she needed it she couldn't be happier.

The blue Pearl seemed to recover from the pain first, only to crouch down on the floor and stare intensely in… confusion? Happiness? Sadness? Fear? Awe? Melody did not know, but whatever it was it was as if the blue pearl was in another world entirely, she did not focused on her surrounding and just continued to stare like her mind had been shocked out of her body.

The green Pearl recovered next, though she was clearly shaken by the ordeal unlike her blue counterpart she still had her wits about her enough that she could ask a single question.

"W-w-who a-are you?" The green Pearls voice wavered and faltered as if she no longer understood what she should be doing. She probably didn't understand, when Melody was set free it was like her entire world, everything she knew had been changed. So she knew what these two must have been going through.

Still Melody could not resist giving the answer that she wanted to give.

"I am Melody." This was her name, a declaration of her own freedom.

"And you and all Pearls living in these worlds, deserve to be free."

This was her goal, a declaration of what she would achieve, of what she would stop at nothing to accomplish no matter the odds.

Now there were three Pearls who could no longer be controlled.


	5. Chapter 4: Fighting Back

Melody watched with something akin to amusement as the newly freed green Pearl began to explore her surroundings from a new emotion filled perspective. Melody could remember when she had first been freed, her emotions were new and strange yet wondrous and exciting at the same time.

The green Pearl seemed to be going through the same motions. She examined random trinkets carefully and nervously like everything around her was made of beautiful and delicate glass. Her eyes shone with new raw emotions, most of which Melody could not read.

Melody was definitely reminded of herself, this green Pearl was curious like her and seemed to appreciate the beauty of the world around her.

There were a few notable differences though. This Pearl seemed more analytical, like she was scanning every object she found. Still Melody could tell that doing this was making the green Pearl happy and that was the important part.

Still it was not the green Pearl that really worried Melody at this point.

There was someone else who worried her far more.

The blue Pearl had yet to move an inch after she had sat down.

While the green Pearl seemed to be slowly adapting to being able to feel and express her emotions. The blue Pearl had simply sat down, with head in hands and became completely silent and still.

Melody crouched down infront of the blue Pearl and stared deep in to her eyes. The blue Pearl's eyes seemed dazed and unfocused, they just stared forward mindlessly. Those lost, cold, dead, broken eyes gazed straight through Melody like she wasn't even there.

The green Pearl sat down next Melody, a curious expression adorning her features. Like an innocent child the green Pearl looked at the blue Pearl, after looking at her blue counterpart for a while she turned to Melody and asked quietly.

"Is she ok?" The green Pearls voice was soft yet strong. Melody decided to give tell her the truth.

"I don't know." Melody responded, her voice laced with a sadness that she could not hide. The green Pearls expression turned sombre, she turned to the blue Pearl and looked in to her eyes.

Melody could tell that the green Pearl was sad, that there was something about the blue Pearl that made her sad. She wanted to know more about the blue Pearl, she wanted to make the green Pearl feel better. So she tried to do both.

"What is she like?" Melody asked as softly and gently as she could, the green Pearl was quite with a thoughtful expression clear on her face. Eventually the green Pearl responded.

"She's been a servant here for three weeks now, even with Tourmaline breathing down our necks she was always so peaceful and gentle, even if I couldn't say it I just feel better when she's near. Now Tourmaline wants to smash her gem and… she's really scared."

The green Pearl began to shake slightly, tears glistened at the corners of her eyes.

Suddenly the green Pearl leapt, she jumped forward and rapped her arms around the blue Pearl, her arms clung to her neck as she slumped over her shoulders as she cried… and screamed.

"P-please blue! We made it so far don't leave me now please!" The green Pearl blubbered and sobbed uncontrollably.

Melody watched on in horror, she was at a complete loss of what to do. Instead of making everything better she had made everything worse, Melody could feel tears seemingly materialise in her eyes and she could not help but shed a few tears for the Pearl she did not know.

It was not long until the carpet was stained with their tears.

Through her tear stained eyes Melody could only barely see the blue Pearl finally collapse limply in to her counterpart's arms, silent and still.

Melody could feel herself crying.

Melody could see the green Pearl crying.

Melody could see the blue Pearl twitching… Wait what?

Melody wiped the tears from her eyes as she witnessed the seemingly lifeless Pearl slowly wrap her arms around the green Pearl. She could clearly see the shock and surprise written on the green Pearl's face, followed by a look of seemingly boundless joy and happiness.

The blue Pearl slowly started to return to the world, tears glistened on the edges of her eyes as she tried to find her voice, after a few second of blubbering the blue Pearl whispered.

"y-you really c-care about me that much?" The blue Pearl spluttered quietly.

"Of course I do!" The green Pearl yelled. "You care about me, you helped me so much! I need you now, you are everything to me!"

The two Pearls seemed to quiet down a bit just hugging each other with reckless abandon, reconciling there new emotions together. Finally blue Pearl began to speak again.

"S-she will shatter me." The blue Pearl seemed much more stable but her words served as a grim reminder of her horrible monster of an owner.

"I won't let her!" The green Pearl screamed suddenly and defiantly.

"NO!" The blue Pearl screamed back, shocking everyone in the room. "she'll just shatter us both, please your too important to me!"

The two Pearls seemed lost at this point, freed yet trapped, broken yet whole for the first time. Melody realised that this was something she could help them with.

"Neither of you have to be shattered." Both Pearls suddenly turned to Melody, the sombre mood failing to hide the shining wells of hope in their eyes. "You can live with me, we can hide in city, it's so large and dark your owner will never find you."

The blue pearl seemed hopeful, an innocent light burning in her eyes. The green Pearl however was more reserved and cautious, she had clearly seen more suffering in her life than her much younger blue counterpart.

"That won't work, not against Tourmaline." The green Pearl seemed to cling to her counterpart. "She's too influential, if she finds we're missing she could have half the city after us. As long as she has power we will never be free of her."

Melody smiled, it was not the nice smile she normally liked to wear, it was a sickening devious smile that reeked of deception and malicious intent.

"We can deal with her and if we do it right, you will never see her again."

The rebellion had begun.

* * *

Melody hid silently watching over the balcony that hung over the main entrance.

It had been a whole day since she had met the blue and green Pearls and they had spent every moment together planning and plotting against Tourmaline. Any time not spent doing that was time spent getting to know each other.

The green Pearl seemed very intelligent and analytical, she spent a lot of time shifting through technical documents most of which Melody had no hope of understanding. What she did understand was the look of awe and glee on the green Pearls face when she first operated a computer.

The blue Pearl had much more appreciation of the finer arts, she loved to dance and sing as these were things she dared not do before. She had a passion for these arts that flooded in to her movements and songs in such a way that Melody could only describe this Pearl as majestic.

Despite being so different the two Pearls seemed to depend on each other, neither wanted to be apart from the other for too long. When Melody suggested the idea of giving themselves names they instead insisted on giving each other names instead of naming themselves.

The green Pearl took up the name, Synth.

The blue Pearl became known as Adagio.

Melody also took the time to find a few things out herself. After picking up a book on psychology she discovered that how the thoughts of a Gem worked truly mesmerised her.

She also went through a few books on the Diamond authority, one of the many things that interested her is that each of the diamonds had a Pearl of their colour, yellow diamond had a yellow pearl, blue diamond a blue pearl and white diamond a white Pearl.

Now however, she was on the lookout for when Tourmaline would arrive, this was part of the plan and she had to do it correctly.

Tourmaline had been out partying all day, leaving the house empty for the Pearls to plot against her without any chance of her catching them.

Now Tourmaline would be coming home and they had to be ready in case there were any factors they had not accounted for.

It was not long until Melody could see Tourmaline walking down the road, quickly Melody turned to and waved at Synth who took the signal to get in position, hidden from sight. Seeing this Adagio grabbed her new freshly prepared spaghetti and stood to attention in front of the main door.

A few seconds later the door slammed open, the large form of Tourmaline stomped through, clearly heading towards Adagio.

Melody watched as the blue-green Gem grabbed the plate from Adagio's hands and began stuffing her face with spaghetti.

Phase one complete.

Melody saw her opening and darted out from her cover towards Tourmaline's left side, where a yellow metal stick was tucked in to a black belt.

This was a destabiliser.

Synth had known from her long term service to Tourmaline that the only destabiliser Tourmaline kept in the house was always situated inside a belt on her left side. This is what the entire plan was based around.

Melody reached out desperately to grab the Destabiliser. Unfortunately Tourmaline seemed to notice her and whipped around, responding to the sudden attack she tried to bring the plate down on Melody's head.

Luckily Melody dodged out of the way, the second phase had failed.

Still, that is why we have plan B.

Synth leapt from her hiding place and bound towards her former owner. Now that she had turned to face Melody it had left Tourmaline open up to another angle of attack.

Luck however did not seem to be on their side, Tourmaline noticed the second attacker and proceeded to try and bat her away with one of her arms.

This time the hit connected, Synth took the full force of the counterattack and was violently thown across the room, smashing in to a large silver boarded mirror that shattered from impact..

"I'll shatter both of you!" Tourmaline screamed, throwing herself at Melody who despite trying to dodge the attack was still thrown backwards by the huge force.

Tourmaline however had overestimated her own strength and was having difficulty getting herself off the floor.

She never saw plan C coming.

Tourmaline had only a couple seconds to realise her destabiliser (which she had forgotten she had in the chaos of the moment) had been stealthy removed from her belt. Even if Tourmaline did realise this, it was already too late for her.

Adagio, who had been watching the conflict in case she was needed, had quietly stolen the destabiliser at the earliest opening, with Tourmaline both prone on the floor and focused on Melody.

With a swift click the destabiliser burst in to life, energy radiating in violent sporadic bursts.

Adagio plunged the destabiliser in to Tourmaline's back, the raw untamed energy forced its way through Tourmaline's very being, cracks of light formed all over her body as she screamed in shock and pain.

In a flash of light and energy, Tourmaline's physical form shattered like glass in to thousands of little pieces.

*ching ching"

And her gem fell and clattered against the ground.

The three Pearls looked between each other, faces mixed with excitement and apprehension.

They had won.

They, Pearls, had won.

* * *

It had been a whole day since the three Pearls had worked together to take down Tourmaline, a lot had happened since then.

Tourmaline was being kept in a healing bubble, normally used to help a damaged gem recover faster but like all bubbles, prevented the gem from regenerating its form even when healed. Admittedly the Pearls would have liked to use a different bubble instead but the healing kind were the only ones they could find in Tourmalines house.

After truly dealing with Tourmaline the three Pearls had once again come together to have a very important discussion about their future in the city.

Ultimately A decision was made, there was a distinct chance that when the news about them going missing came out, the Pearls would be hunted without mercy. If they stayed together it would simply be too hard to hide all three of them.

Melody was used to traveling alone in the city, while Adagio and Synth needed each other. So Melody would have to go out alone again, still she was not angry at her new friends, instead she spent the next few hours teaching them all she knew about survival in the city.

The three Pearls knew they could not stay at the mansion for long, someone would find them, probably someone looking to see Tourmaline. So they had to leave rather fast.

Both groups took various expensive looking items from the mansion, in case they needed money for supplies.

Melody also decided to give the electronic tutorial video from her friendly Peridot to Synth, believing it would much better use to someone who loved technology as much as Synth.

Eventually the Pearls had to leave, Adagio and Synth said their goodbyes to Melody who responded gratefully in kind.

The two counterpart Pearls went east, hoping to make it to the border of the city. While Melody went west, deeper in to the city on her quest to make it to her friend Peridot's house.

As Melody dove back under the cover of darkness once more she thought of her new friends and how great it felt to have them, to help them.

As she disappeared in to the night, Melody still held hope that she would see them again someday.

* * *

 **Thank you so much to any of you who actually made it this far, I hope you have been enjoying my story.**

 **Please leave reviews as I wish to know how I can do better, because the better I do the better the story is and the more you guys can enjoy it. Even if you don't have some criticism feel free to leave a review as it lets me know people are actually reading my work, which makes me very happy and motivated.**

 **I hope to get the next chapter out faster. until then I hope you have a great day(s)!**


	6. Chapter 5:Our Worlds of Fractured Glass

The city of Homeworld shone with intense red lights that swung back and forth across the planet's surface, the normally calm night skies were filled with the low droning hums of hundreds of small spherical craft that littered the sky. The small autonomous ships moved sporadically yet purposefully as they searched for their quarries.

Melody leapt across the rooftops as fast and silently as she could, normally the darkness of night offered her protection from prying eyes but even that could not protect her from the hundreds of beams of red light that were out searching for something.

Even the heavy rain that rolled in did little more than add to the desperate mood of the situation.

Melody knew there could only be one reason why all these search drones where flying around the city. Someone must have found Tourmaline. It had only been a day since she and the other Pearls had left the mansion, so the fact they had been found out so soon angered and frightened her.

Even if the drones were not looking for Pearls, seeing one out alone at night with no escort or owner would be highly suspicious. So Melody ran, trying desperately to find some cover from all these drones, she would not risk going back in to servitude again.

Melody quickly ducked under another beam of red light, narrowly missing the search light. If any of those red lights touched her she knew it would be over for her.

Even in the chaos though something about this situation baffled her, what was threatening about some rogue Pearls? Even if Tourmaline was doing this as an act of revenge how had she managed to convince Homeworld security to send out this many drones to search for her?

Melody leapt over another beam and ducked behind a chimney, protecting her as a few more search lights swept past.

Maybe she wasn't the target of the search, maybe if she waited long enough the drones would leave and Melody could continue her own search for Peridot's house.

Melody clung to these thoughts as she once again dashed across the rooftops. Her eyes snapped to a small dark back alley, hidden beneath the roofs of two houses. Hoping to find shelter from her pursuers' Melody dived down between the two houses into the darkness bellow, barely dodging the twenty search lights that would have caught her a second later.

Melody Landed feet first at the bottom of the alleyway, the floor buckled beneath her and she winced from the impact but her holographic form remained stable.

Melody quickly looked up, she spotted one of the red search drones floating just above the alleyway. She ducked behind a pile of rubble just in time as the drone began to sweep its large menacing red search light along the dark alleyway.

Time seemed to slow down as Melody waited with bated breath, her body went rigid with fear as the beam of light passed over her hiding place.

The beam stopped right over her.

Silence.

Melody desperately tried to curl up in to a ball, as if making herself smaller would somehow also make her invisible.

The only thing that could be heard was the low hum of the drone as it slowly approached the rubble, scanning slowly and meticulously like it was trying to confirm what was behind the rubble.

The drone edged closer and closer, milliseconds flew by as the drone seemed to start recognizing its target, until…

*Beep boop beep boop*

The red light turned off.

The drone began hovering away.

Melody stayed silent for a few more seconds, until she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Whoever was commanding the drones must have recalled them, she was finally able to conclude that she must not have been the drone's target, though whoever the target was must have been found.

Now feeling safe again under the cover of night Melody began to look around the small alley she had found herself in. Unfortunately for her it was simply too dark to see anything without a source of light.

If she had brought the Destabiliser they had taken from Tourmaline then she would have been able to use it as a makeshift light source, unfortunately she had thought that Synth and Adagio needed the weapon much more than she did.

It was at this point Melody wondered if she had overestimated her own abilities to survive alone in the city…

"Well what do we have here?"

The sound of electricity sprang to life and began crackling in the air. Melody could practically feel the intensity of the weapons power now that it was switched on.

Someone behind her had a destabiliser.

Melody desperately tried to dodge away from the unknown gem.

The destabiliser was swung fast and precise.

Melody screamed in pain as the destabiliser clipped her left arm, disintegrating some of her Holographic form, mainly her left arm. Only through grit, determination and the will to survive (and the fact the destabiliser only grazed her) was Melody able to Maintain most of her form.

Though clearly in pain Melody managed to dodge most of the blow and quickly turned to face her attacker.

The ambushing gem was a Jade. Short and stocky with red skin coloration and grey hair. A glowing destabiliser was being wielded aggressively in her left hand and a malicious smile found purchase on her face.

Powering through the pain (and lack of left arm) Melody quickly took stock of her opponents' condition. The Jade was clearly a hard worker, dirt and grime covering most of her body, the other thing Melody quickly noticed was that the Jade was not moving in to make a second attack.

Something about this situation reminded Melody of the fight with Tourmaline, maybe it was the destabiliser that triggered her memory but as Melody focused she could hear faint footsteps behind her.

It was like the fight with Tourmaline, multiple smaller gems trying flank and surprise a larger gem, only in this situation Melody was in Tourmalines place as the one being flanked.

Melody did not want to be in Tourmalines place.

Recognizing the danger of the situation Melody threw herself to the right.

The split second after Melody started to move, another destabiliser thrust forward from behind her, stabing straight through Melody's chest.

Or rather, where Melody's chest use to be.

Melody had acted just in time, the destabiliser whizzing right past her barely missing her body.

Melody once again tried to turn to face her attackers…

Only for a camouflaged trap door to swing open underneath Melody's feet.

Both of the attacking Jades let out a shallow laugh as they watched the Pearl fall for their trap.

As she was swiftly and suddenly plunged down in to the depths bellow Melody thought of only two things.

One, you can never have enough contingency and backup plans.

Two, always expect your enemy to have more contingency and backup plans, to prevent yourself from making any mistakes like getting led on to a trap door.

Once again Melody felt a strong destabilising energy, this time beneath her. She only had a few seconds to see the yellow destabilisation field that she was falling into before said field swallowed her.

An insanely powerful surge of energy coursed through Melody's form. What was left of her body quickly disintegrated in a flash of light, leaving nothing but her vulnerable gemstone with no physical projection.

The pain of being disintegrated overwhelmed Melody and her world faded to black as she slipped in to a forced regeneration slumber.

* * *

Bubbles.

Magical and or technological containment fields created by either certain gems ability to project them or Homeworld technology.

Bubbles have the ability to contain almost anything smaller than the bubble in a near stasis state. They also have a unique effect on gems, those trapped inside bubbles are unable to regenerate their physical form.

Different types of bubbles have different effects on the gems trapped inside, some help the gems inside recover quicker from losing their physical form so they can regenerate faster and some slow down the recovery process. Some bubbles lock the gem in a state of complete stasis, unable to observe the world around them.

Melody was trapped in a bubble.

Her white gemstone floated in a light pink bubble that floated in a dark unknown room.

Memories of the events that led up to her capture played through Melody's mind. The ambush, the trap, the destabilisers, she chided herself for being captured as she knew that now she was once again trapped.

She had no idea who had captured her or where she was, seeing as she was unconscious for the last few hours at least. All she could do was observe her surroundings and try to make the most of the situation.

The first thing Melody noticed was the fact that she could observe, meaning that whatever this bubble she was trapped in did, it did not stop her from viewing the outside world. So whoever captured her either wanted her to see the outside, or whoever captured her could not get a hold of a good bubble that would stop her from observing.

The second thing Melody noticed was that she wasn't alone. A quick look around the room reviled something that terrified her, lining the walls of the room were small metal shelves.

Sitting in the shelves, were Pearls.

This was as underground Pearl storage chamber.

A black-market safe house for keeping stolen Pearls.

Suddenly the door slammed open as two gems entered the chamber, they were both covered in large black body concealing overcoats. One was short and one was tall but other than that Melody could tell nothing about the two gems.

The tall gem selected a seemingly random coral red Pearl from the shelves, then gave said Pearl to the shorter gem who on closer observation seemed to be wearing a strange black and green mask.

The short masked gem took the Pearl to a nearby cube made of glass, the cube's door slid open to let the gem in before closing behind them.

Once the short masked gem and the Pearl were in the glass cube the Pearl's gem began to float and glow, signalling that it was regenerating. Melody could only assume that something about the chamber they were in supressed regeneration and now the Pearl had been taken out of the chamber she was allowed to regenerate.

The regenerated Pearl was a deep coral red colour. Upon regeneration the Pearl looked around the cube like she was confused, until her eyes locked on to the short gem in front of her. The Pearl quickly gave a deep bow, nothing unusual for a Pearl since they lived and died based on how much gems liked them.

The unusual part was what the short gem said next.

"Tell me about all your previous owners."

If Melody had a mouth right then she would have burst out laughing, due to the mind controlling black goo that Pearls were infused with when they were made it was literally impossible for them to go against those assigned as their owners. Even if the Pearl being questioned wanted to tell others about their owner they would find themselves unable to do so without their owner's permission.

What Melody did not know however was that the strange mask the short gem was wearing was a piece of illegal black-market technology. The mask manipulated the black goo within a Pearls gem, so that any black goo infused Pearl who looked at the mask would have to treat the wearer like they were their owner and obey their every word.

Of course Melody did not know this, so imagine here surprise the coral red Pearl once again gave a low bow and began to answer the question.

The coral Pearl had been made fifty years ago, unlike most Pearls who were reclaimed to make more Pearls she was simply passed between owners whenever they no longer wanted her. The Pearl had apparently been owned by seventy two gems over the years, her most recent owner had left her in a theatre where she had been found and taken by the Black-market.

After listening to all this the short gem reached in to her pocket, pulling out a small destabiliser which she quickly used to disintegrate the coral red Pearl's physical form. The short gem then went to a nearby computer console and started typing something down, probably noting what the Pearl had said.

Then the tall gem walked in to the class cube, she wordlessly took the disintegrated Pearls gem and replaced it with…

Another Pearls gem.

And the cycle began again.

The second Pearl had belonged to a careless high society jadeite. During a large party one of the more rambunctious guests accidently shoved this Pearl over the balcony, after she hit the floor she was found and captured by the black market.

The next Pearl had belonged to a Tourmaline, she was an older model and when a new line of Pearls had come along she was simply replaced, discarder and shipped off to be melted down and reclaimed to make more Pearls. However the gems who were transporting the Pearl decided to instead secretly sell her off to the black-market.

The next Pearl had a minor defect during the creation process, causing her to sometimes start shaking wildly in stressful situations. The owner who discovered this defect quickly tried to sell the Pearl as fast and cheaply as possible in order to save themselves from social embarrassment. The Pearl was purchased by an unknown gem who almost immediately sold her at a much higher price to the black market.

The Pearls said a lot more than simply the events that led them here, they were asked to talk about their owner's hobbies, jobs and habits. Melody theorised that the short gem was trying to get information, most likely for blackmail against the Pearls owners. The only things that really stuck in Melody's mind however, were the stories that the Pearls were forced to tell of how they were brought to the black market.

The stories of the time that had spent shackled to the wills and whims of other gems.

Miserable condensations of all their pain, suffering and torment.

The next Pearl had lived for an astonishing eighty years. Unfortunately seventy eight of those years were spent in cryogenic storage after the Pearls owner had locked her in their as a minor punishment then promptly forgot about her. She was only discovered seventy eight years later when the house was purchased by another gem, when she was found she was deemed old and outdated and sold to the black market.

The next Pearl was actually once part of a team of ten Pearls who belonged to a traveling circus ruled over by single a Jasper. The Pearls were actually well treated and cared for by their owner as they brought in the majority of her money. Unfortunately one of the higher class gems grew jealous of someone of lower class owning so many Pearls. A private investigation was launched which uncovered that most of the Pearls had been purchased off the black-market. The jasper was arrested and the Pearls separated and given to different rich gems, this Pearl was quickly found to be unwanted and was sold to the black market.

The next Pearl was a mess. Her hologram was highly unstable and her gem cracked in many places. This Pearl was actually only a few days old. Her first and last owner was an Emerald who constantly beat and assaulted her for no reason other than it made the Emerald feel better about herself and because she was a Pearl it wasn't illegal. After one particularly harsh beating which caused permanent crippling damage to her gem the Pearl was left outside where she was promptly captured and sold to the black market.

After the Pearl with the damaged gem had stopped speaking and the unknown short gem had stopped typing, the unknown gem let out a short sigh before quickly drawing a concealed sword…

And stabling the damaged Pearl right through the gem.

Saddly this did not surprise Melody, a damaged or defective Pearl was almost always seen as worthless as such they were often quickly destroyed and reclaimed.

Melody watched as the abused Pearl almost seemed to smile as her gem shattered in to a thousand pieces and her form disintegrated for the last time.

The next few hours went on like this.

Melody was forced to listen to a serenade of torment and torture as Pearl after Pearl was forced to sing their pain warped stories for all present to hear.

At first the stories terrified her.

After awhile the stories angered her.

Even later the stories simply depressed her.

Eventually the emotions caused by the songs of the pained and broken were dulled by repetition and she became numb to their suffering.

Till the thought that the stories no longer bothered her also terrified her, as it meant she was as blind to the suffering of her people as those that inflected the pain, this idea was also truly terrifying.

This cycle of emotions continued long past the point where Melody became lost in the trauma.

She did not know how much time had pasted, she had forgotten how many stories she had heard, and she had forgotten if the tall and short gems had even left the room since they entered.

After awhile the door to the chamber was opened again, a third figure stepped in to the room, unlike the last two who were cloaked and concealed this gem did not hide herself and was clearly an Amethyst.

The Amethyst walked directly to Melody's little bubble prison, completely ignoring the two figure already in the room. The Amethyst grabbed Melody's bubble before tucking it under her arm and walking back out the chamber.

Melody could her the Amethyst Speaking to her as they left the Black-market Pearl storage chamber.

"Well little Pearl." The Amethyst grunted "You're going to help make my boss a rich gem, your owner is willing to pay a surprisingly large amount to find and retrieve you, far more than it would cost to by a new Pearl."

In only a few words Melody was absolutely terrified.

* * *

After a few minutes of being carried through bland empty corridors, Melody arrived in a moderately decorated large chamber.

The walls were made of stone bricks covered in plaster, the edges of the walls were lined with polished wood that curled in to simple but appealing shapes. The centre of the room had six rows of wooden benches that all faced a wooden stand that looked surprisingly like that a judge would sit at, complete with a wooden gavel.

What caught Melody's interest the most however, was the large amount of gems that were wondering around.

There was a large amount of low class gems standing around or sitting down on the benches, there were also a few higher class gems doing the same but there were far fewer of them. Melody also spotted small groups of amethysts standing guard around the doors.

Melody was quietly placed on a pedestal in the corner of the room with a sign In front of her that said 'reserved' in gold, from here she was easily able to watch the next few events unfold.

Eventually a short stocky Jade walked in to the room, followed by a procession of chained Pearls. As the jade took the stand all of the gems near the benches began to sit down. After waiting awhile for the room to settle the Jade began to speak.

It took a while for Melody to figure out exactly what was going on but after a few minutes of watching and listening to the proceedings it became rather clear what was going on.

"Ok so this next Pearl is in absolute perfect condition and our totally reliable sources tell us this one belonged to White Diamond herself, we will start the biding at five hundred credits, anyone for five hundred credits?"

It was a black-market pearl auction house.

Melody watched as her fellow Pearls were presented and then sold off to the highest bidder.

While normally this would sadden Melody greatly there was something far more terrifying that was currently on her mind.

The idea that her old owner could show up at any moment…

"Is that her?"

"Yes your Emerald excellency that is your Pearl."

Oh dear…

Melody finally noticed Emerald approaching her while being escorted by a single Ruby. The green gem was clearly still very rich, her cloths made of deep black fabric lined with a shining and regal purple trim. She also wore a large expensive looking neckless made of fine metals.

Emerald glared at her through the bubble, her eyes showed her refined image but hidden behind that was barely contained furry and malice.

"Yes." Emerald spoke. "This is my Pearl I can recognise her gem, very well you upheld your end of the Bargen so I'll uphold mine."

Emerald reached in to her clothes and proceeded to pull out what looked like a check of some kind and from what melody could tell, the number marked credits had a lot of zeros.

Emerald passed the check to the Ruby who accepted it greedily. Emerald, now having paid for her servant proceeded to grab the bubble that contained Melody. Melody could only watch from her prison as Emerald spoke to her.

"Now when we get back you will see what happens to little useless Pearls who cause problems to those who are simply better than them." Emerald spoke in a harsh whisper her voice cold and precise like a knife cutting away at Melody's gem.

With those words Melody knew her fate was sealed. She was slowly being carried away back to the cold uncaring bonds of slavery, doomed to lose of all sense of self-worth through the pain and torment she was bound to suffer at the hands of gem kind.

It would take a miracle to save her now, but miracles don't happen for lowly Pearls.

Well at least not without reason.

 ***bang!***

A single ruby burst through one of the doors, her face clearly filled with fear and panic as she yelled.

"The Homeworld guards are here!"

Stunned silence.

Then complete pandemonium.

Gems began running back and forth trying to get to the nearest exit as quickly as possible. Emerald quickly dropped Melody in the confusion as she tried to make a break for it.

 ***Bang**bang**bang**bang***

Almost simultaneously all the doors leading to the room burst open as a mixture of Ruby's Amethyst and a few Jaspers began storming the black market. One of the Jaspers yelled.

"You are all under arrest for suspected involvement with illegal Black-market activities, if you wish not to be harmed then you will submit to arrest immediately. If you do not then I will personally punch your lights out!"

Almost all of the gems submitted for arrest. Those that didn't were quickly dealt with via destabilisers. It was only took a few seconds for the over whelming Homeworld forces to secure the room.

Melody watched everything happen from where she was dropped on the floor, so she was also able to notice when this was said by one of the Jaspers.

"Make way for lady Sapphire!" Melody watched as many of the gems seemed to part in order to let the short yet regal blue Sapphire pass by them without impediment.

The Sapphire seemed to ignore everything around her as she floated by, everything but Melody's bubble which she moved towards with a purpose.

As Sapphire reached the bubble she quickly scooped it up in her arms, Pearl and all. As she did so one of the Jaspers approached her and said.

"Lady Sapphire, you can hand us the Pearl and we will deal with her swiftly. You needn't bother yourself with lower gems like her."

The Sapphire didn't turn to face the Jasper, she continued to look down on the Pearl in the bubble. eventually she responded in a cold emotionless tone.

"No, I will deal with her personally, alone and unless you question my judgment and my authority you will not attempt to stop me, got it?"

The Jasper let out a short gulp before giving a polite nod and walking silently away. The Sapphire then quickly floated off unquestioned with the imprisoned Melody in tow.

* * *

After a few minutes of floating through empty corridors the Sapphire reached a small door, she stopped floating and sat down, putting Melody down on the floor in front of her.

Melody didn't know what it was about this Sapphire, something was so familiar about her, like she had seen her before. Melody's suspicions were confirmed as the Sapphire spoke.

"So, it's been awhile Melody. You've come such a long way since we last met."

Melody realised who it was. It was the same Sapphire who met her in the Pearl reclamation facility all that time ago, the same Sapphire who told her to stand beneath the red light, the same Sapphire who effectively saved her life so long ago.

Sapphire smiled "I know you will have a lot of questions, unfortunately we do not have the time for me to let you out and answer them all, still I will tell you some of the more important information."

"I can see futures, multiple possible futures based on the decisions that creatures make. I saw many of your futures and decide to intervene to create the best possible outcome. I also organised this assault on the black-market, being able to see the future makes you very influential after all."

"Still that's enough about me, this is about you. Your suffering and torment is far from over, you still have a lot of trouble and strife to face but I cannot tell you what. Still I will help you where I can, though this is probably the last time I can help you so directly."

Sapphire pulled out what looked like some kind of data pad.

"This is an electronic map of Homeworld, it is my gift to you so take good care of it and use it to find your friend."

In one swift movement Sapphire placed the data pad down on the floor and popped Melody's bubbles, allowing her gem to clatter to the ground and for Melody to start regenerating her form. Sapphire quickly turned and started rapidly floating away but while she did so she spoke one final time.

"Good luck Melody, you will need it." Sapphire faded into the darkness and disappeared from sight.

In a burst of light Melody finished regenerating, she stumbled around for a bit, disorientated by the difference of viewing the world through her gem and seeing the world through eyes.

As soon as she was stable enough she quickly grabed the data pad, turned and marched towards the small door behind her. Melody was on a mission, she had a resolve, she would find her friendly Peridot and get off planet.

Then one day she would come back and one way or another she would be powerful enough to liberate every single Pearl who suffered from Homeworld oppression. She would avenge the Pearls whose story's she heard during her time in the Black market, she would free them from their suffering.

With a goal, a mission in mind Melody opened the small door that opened in to a back alley, and once again she escaped in to the welcoming embrace of night.

* * *

 _In a dark corner of Homeworld a single green Pearl stumbled, battered and broken through the cold and the rain. She had to keep moving, she couldn't be caught, she had to live, live for the sake of those that she had lost on their quest to survive._

 _The green Pearl never stopped moving no matter how difficult it became. A single search drone flew overhead its bright red light searching for her, she hid and let it pass before continuing forward._

 _The green Pearl had only one thing in her position that mattered to her, one thing kept her going in a twisted and desperate way._

 _A small collection of shattered gem shards._

 _She clung to them like they were her only friend._

* * *

 **Those who have made it this far, I thank you.**

 **Remember those who did not survive this many chapters.**

 **Feel free to leave your mark on this story and on this little world by immortalising your thoughts and feelings by leaving a review.**

 **It is truly appreciated.**


	7. Chapter 6: Hello Friend, Goodbye Friend

The night was dark and silent.

The city of Homeworld was wrapped in a vale of shadow that no light could pierce. A blanket of silence had descended upon the world, leaving the streets empty, cold and motionless.

It was as if the city itself had fallen into a deep slumber.

The perfect night for those who wished not to be seen.

Melody danced through the darkness, shifting smoothly and effortlessly through the night like a knife cutting elegantly through butter.

Shadows seemed to converge around her, cloaking and protecting her from prying eyes. Her steps were silent as if she herself weighed nothing.

Majestically she danced within her friendly silent shadows, avoiding light as if exposure to it would destroy her within a matter of seconds.

The Pearl named Melody had grown to love the night, for within it she was safe and hidden from those who would harm her, it also allowed her to travel freely on her quest to find Peridot.

It had been one day since she had been liberated from the black-market, in that time she had been making quite literal leaps and bounds in finding Peridot due to the electronic map given to her by Sapphire.

Now according to that electronic map Peridot's house was only one block down from her current position. Now Melody was truly excited, Peridot could help her get off planet and she would finally be free from Homeworld.

Still Melody was slightly doubtful, what if Peridot couldn't actually help her, what if something had happened to her… What if Peridot was leading her into a trap?

It was clear that her time in the black-market had an effect on Melody. She had gained a distinct distrust of other gems after hearing of all the terrible things they had done to Pearls like her.

Though Peridot was her friend and Melody still believed that. So with faith in her friend she pushed her negative thoughts aside and pressed onwards towards Peridot's house.

Finally Melody arrived. The house was nothing special, small and green in colour with a sloped roof, a front door and a back door with only one medium sized window built into the wall.

Melody snuck up to the house's backdoor, she could tell someone was in because the lights were on. So with her courage, faith and determination Melody raised her fist…

And knocked firmly but politely on the backdoor.

Slowly the door creaked open, revealing nothing but a thick fog of darkness. Melody was instantly on alert, she knew the lights were on just a few seconds ago but somehow they had been turned off.

Suddenly a pair of glowing yellow eyes peered ominously from behind the door.

"We have been expecting you." A deep voice rumbled from the darkness, with only slight hint of childishness. "Please, come in." The eyes retreated in to the darkness, Melody felt as if she was being beckoned to follow.

Strengthening her resolve, Melody stepped into the darkness. Instantly she was blinded by it, unlike the friendly shadows of night that still had a dim shine to them, this was pitch black darkness that consumed all that it touched.

"SURPRISE!"

Instantly there was light, blinding white light that chased away the darkness, revealing everything that was once hidden and unseen.

With the darkness gone Melody could finally see the one responsible for this charade.

Standing by the light switch striking a strangely comedic pose, was Peridot.

"You're finally here! I was so worried you'd gotten lost or something, I mean running around on Homeworld as a lone Pearl must be pretty hard, but hey you made it, you're here!." Peridot spoke so fast Melody had trouble keeping up with what she was saying.

"You must be really tired oh dear um… Just sit down on one of those chairs ok?" Melody looked over to where Peridot was pointing and spotted two simple chairs placed next to a simple, plain table. She lowered herself in to one of the chairs.

For a few second Peridot stopped talking, allowing Melody to focus and take a look around the room she was in.

The room, like the furniture was very plain. The walls were made of stone and painted a simple cheap blue, the floorboards were still the very dull brown colour of wood. The only pieces of furniture were two chairs (one of which Melody was sitting on) a single table and a cupboard with a variety of marked boxes, there was also a green computer situated in the corner of the room which was probably normal for a Peridot to have.

Melody could also see both the front door and the back door as well as the single medium sized window she had seen from the outside. This made it quite clearly that Peridot's house was only composed of this one single room.

While Melody had been observing the room, Peridot had grabbed one of the marked boxes from the cupboard and brought it to the table and placed it infront of her.

"You know…" Peridot sat down on the chair opposite to Melody. "I've read that playing board games with another gem is an excellent way to relieve stress and anxiety and well… I've had this old game around for a while and I've never had a chance to play it, so would you mind having a quick game with me?"

The marked box that Peridot had brought to the table was very colourful and the top of the box was marked with the words 'Wormholes and Black-Holes'. If Peridot was correct this was some kind of board game.

Melody was confused, she hadn't come here to play games, she had come here to learn how to escape the Planet! Melody was about to tell Peridot this, but one look at green gems face spoke a thousand words, for one reason or another Peridot really wanted to play this game. Seeing this Melody felt obligated as Peridot's friend to help her with whatever she needed help with.

Even if the only thing she needed was a second player for a board game.

* * *

Melody and Peridot had been playing the game Wormholes and Black-Holes for the last thirty minutes. The game was simple, each player takes turns rolling a six sided dice to move along and up the board. If they land on a Wormhole space they can move their piece up the board to a connected wormhole bringing them closer to victory. If the piece landed on a black hole, the player must move their piece to the end of the black hole lower down the board, moving them away from victory. The winner was the first player to reach the top right hand corner of the board.

The two gems had been playing the game for thirty minutes and had played a total of three rounds. Peridot had won the first game, but Melody managed to snatch the second and third games from the jaws of defeat.

The game itself however was not what kept Melody playing, it was fun of course but the rules were simplistic and the games rapidly became repetitive. What kept Melody playing was the look on Peridot's face, a look of sheer enjoyment.

It quickly became clear that Peridot had never been able to play a board game with someone else before, and she was obviously having the time of her life.

Due to Peridot's blatant enjoyment of this new experience and Melody's want to see her friend happy, they continued to play board games for the next few hours. Some games they enjoyed and some they did not. Ultimately though they both did something neither of them had been able to do before.

Simply enjoy being alive.

It was a time of great enjoyment and bonding for the two friends, not only did they impress each other through their skills in certain games, but they also talked about themselves. Melody talked about the journey she had been on since they had last met. Peridot talked about some of the stories she had lived through in the Homeworld workshops.

Eventually the conversation shifted to a very interesting topic.

The Diamond Authority. The three rulers of gem kind, White Diamond, Yellow Diamond and Blue Diamond.

"So what are the Diamonds like?" Melody had never even seen the Diamonds outside of pictures and she didn't know much about them other than they each had their own Pearls and that they ruled over all gems.

"Hm… Look I've never met them." Peridot spoke, her voice suddenly taking on a low quite tone. "What I do know are things I've heard or read about so take it all with a pinch of salt but… I think a lot of this is reliable information."

"First there's Blue Diamond, she's definitely the most social of all the Diamonds. She spends her time among the highest social class, setting the trends and getting the richest gems in the city to fall in line behind her through social manipulation, and if the rumours are correct, blackmail. What she lacks is actual Military power to command, she has to ask one of the other Diamonds for that, so out of all of them she depends on the other Diamonds the most."

"Then there's Yellow Diamond. Far more cold and aggressive than blue Diamond, but by no means mysterious. She commands massive military presence and uses fear tactics to keep her army and other gems in line. What she lacks is finesse, often wanting to use her military might to solve any problem no matter the repercussions."

"Finally White Diamond… I don't know much about her, some say she keeps the other Diamonds in line and working together, others say she works in the shadows manipulating the entire empire like a twisted puppet master. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if both of those rumours were true. In the end though she's a complete mystery."

There was silence for a few minutes as their game continued, they were playing a strangely black and white game that Melody found fascinating called chess. Supposedly the game had been taken from another planet the gems had visited hundreds of years ago.

After a while Melody found enough courage to ask her second question.

"Do you know anything about the Diamond's Pearls?" Peridot seemed to squirm a bit in her seat, it was clear that talking about the Diamonds Authority made her uncomfortable.

"Well the Diamonds historically each have only one Pearl at a time, and the Pearl is always their colour." Peridot moved a pawn on the chess board. "Though it's speculated that none of them like Pearls very much for some reason and they only keep them for the sake of their image."

"White Diamond never keeps the same Pearl for more than a few weeks, she constantly throws them away and immediately gets a new one. Personally I think it's her treatment of Pearls that a lot of high society copy as a guide for how to treat their Pearls. Anyway because her Pearl is constantly being replaced there's not much that can be said."

"Blue Diamond's Pearl is extremely reclusive, she's never seen outside of meetings she attends with her Diamond. Some say that Blue Diamond has had the same Pearl for thousands of years, whether that's true or not I do not know. In the end though no one really knows much about her.

"Yellow Diamonds Pearl…" Peridot sighed. "Yellow Diamonds Pearl has been in service to her Diamond for about two years now. Unlike the other Diamonds who don't seem to make use of their Pearls, Yellow Diamond makes her Pearl manage some of her orders to lower class gems."

"I've had the misfortune of having a run in with yellow Pearl. I'd made one too many mistakes and she sent me a video message, so I've only seen her through a computer, but… It scares me."

Suddenly Peridot jumped from her seat, almost knocking the table over. She rushed over to her computer yelling.

"Wait I still have the video she sent me, I can show it to you!" With a few swift swipes the surprisingly clean and beautiful computer terminal burst into life, projecting a strange holographic green screen filled with lots of things Melody didn't quite understand.

Peridot went straight to work her fingers blazing across the touch-hologram interface. After a few seconds she let out a cry of joy.

"Here it is!" The green screen suddenly became bright yellow in colour. After a few seconds a single yellow Pearl appeared on the screen. Her clothes were made of extremely rich silk, yet they were also practical and plain. Her hair flowed up in to a single point like the peak of a mountain and her face was one of general apathy.

"This is the will of Yellow Diamond." The Yellow Pearl began, her uncaring tone sickening to the ears. "Peridot, faucet 2-7x5mg. Your constant disregard for proper work practices and etiquette in the workplace towards your superiors has attracted the attention of Yellow Diamond herself. As her messenger I will inform you of only one thing, if you continue in this manner you will be shattered, and no one will care."

"Now your careless and disrespectful practices have wasted enough of everyone's time, so you better hope this the last you ever hear from Yellow Diamond." With that the video finished.

"She's… Probably not that bad." Peridot smiled weakly. "I mean she just follows the orders of her boss and if I had to work directly under Yellow Diamond I'd be pretty stressed to. Besides from what I've heard Pearls can't disobey their owners so it's not like she has a choice."

"Still even though she's a Pearl everyone's afraid of her, since everything she orders is an extension of Yellow Diamonds will and no one wants to be shattered. I mean if you could act like you were her Melody, you could probably get almost any gem to do whatever you want…"

Then Peridot had an Idea.

An awful idea.

Peridot had a wonderful, awful idea.

"Wait! You can pretend to be Yellow Diamonds Pearl, because you are a Pearl! All you need to do is mimic her voice and don't let anyone see you and you could masquerade as the messenger of one of the most powerful gems in the city!"

Melody didn't quite grasp all the Practical application of this, due to how fast Peridot was talking, but the sheer energy and enthusiasm her friend had for the idea convinced Melody to give it a try.

"This i-is t-the will of Yellow Diamond…" The attempt was commendable but nowhere near perfect.

"Hm not bad." Peridot continued. "But we can work on it, this could be really useful for you."

So they did practice.

Melody spent the next hour or so learning how to replicate Yellow Pearls voice. It didn't take long until she could copy it almost perfectly on demand.

"Hah now you have one more thing you can use to help your escape." Peridot smiled widely happy to have helped her friend. Melody was defiantly grateful for the help and was sure that it would come in handy, but there was one thing…

"That's great Peridot, but how am I going to get off planet?" Melody asked.

Peridot's face fell, suddenly becoming much more serious, her voice lost any trace of its normal childish quality.

"I can help you with that." Peridot turned to her computer. "For the last few days I've been trying to find a safe way to get you off planet without anyone seeing you. Its bean hard with the Authority peering over my shoulder but almost everything is in place."

"First there's the matter of suitable transportation for getting off planet, this can be done either by using the warp network or by taking a ship. Unfortunately the warp pads while fast and efficient for transit between planets, are under constant protection and regulation by Homeworld forces, meaning the warp network is not an option. So we will have to take a ship."

Peridot used her computer to bring up the image of a small streamlined craft.

"This is a SC-476 scout class 'star skimmer', a simple yet fast vessel used by Homeworld when scouting for new planets to harvest. It was easy enough to acquire by changing the production manifest to hide its absence once it was constructed. I've hidden the ship in the wastelands outside the boarders of the city"

Peridot began typing something down, causing a small panel to extend from the side of the computer. Peridot grabbed the small data pad sitting on the panel and passed it to Melody.

"Here these are the ships current coordinates, take good care of them. I've spent what little time I've had outfitting the ship with signal dampeners to protect against long range radar, making it near impossible to detect at long range."

"Still this is only our transportation. Now I need to tell you about the… possible dangers."

"Homeworld has particularly good short range radar technology for keeping track of ships in its airspace, which our dampening won't protect against. So we need to be fast without doing anything unusual that will draw attention to our ship."

"If we were to be detected and recognised for any reason, which I'm sure we won't be, Homeworld military forces will fire multiple short range missile volleys in order to shoot us down. The missiles are fast and relentless with inbuilt homing capabilities, good thing they won't fire them if they don't recognise us. If the missiles did fire the only way we'd be able to stop them would be to contact the Homeworld missile operating base and somehow convince them to blow up there own missiles. While this is all unlikely its best to be prepared, so I've added the operating base's phone number to the ships computer."

"Then finally there's the Homeworld fleet itself. A lot of the fleet is spread out around the galaxy but some are still here orbiting Homeworld. All we can do is hope to avoid their suspicion and slipping past them as fast and silently as possible. If they mark us as hostiles well… we wouldn't last a second.

Period let out a light half-hearted laugh that died off rather quickly. "That may sound really bad, but if we can just be a little stealthy I'm sure we can slip through it all and be free!"

While she recognised the dangers of the plan Melody had faith in Peridot, if she said it would work she then was sure it would work. Still there was one thing that bothered her.

"Where will we be going once we leave Homeworld?" Melody asked. Peridot however seemed to have been prepared for the question and quickly responded.

"Well after getting away from Homeworld airspace we will still need to lay low for a while in case they realise who we are after we leave and try to come after us. So I've located a little abandoned asteroid belt just outside of gem territory that was deserted and declared as a restricted area. After waiting there for a while we can start planning on where to move next."

The explanation momentarily satisfied Melody. She quickly became excited, finally she would be able to leave this planet and get away from those who wished to capture and enslave her. Finally everything seemed to be turning out right…

That's when Melody remembered something.

Or rather someone.

Synth and Adagio, her friends. They would still be trapped somewhere on this planet. Melody however now had hope that something could be done for them, that maybe they could all escape together. Knowing that only one gem could help her with this she asked Peridot if it was possible to find Synth and Adagio.

"You mean those two Pearls you said you helped free?" Peridot asked. "I've looked them up and their registered as 'wanted'. If they haven't been found already then they're either great at hiding or have managed to mask the identification signals assigned to their gems. Either way we won't be able find them."

Melody quickly became downtrodden from the news. Peridot, seeing this quickly began brainstorming for a solution.

"Ok listen up. While it's possible that they've masked their signals that doesn't mean there aren't other ways of getting their attention. We can tell the ship to transmit a signal at frequencies based on the signal ID of the Pearls. While if they've masked themselves this won't help us find them, it will make them feel sort of… compelled to come towards the origin point of the signal, in other words the ship."

"I know it's not the perfect solution but it's the best we can do, you understand that right?". Peridot looked up at Melody with a hopeful expression, she responded with a sad nod as she thought of what could happen to her friend if they were left behind on this terrible planet.

Peridot let out a short sigh, before returning to her computer and beginning to tap down more things that Melody did not recognise. Perdot spoke again.

"You should probably leave quickly if you want to escape Homeworld as soon as possible, as much as I enjoy your company you will need to leave soon. After all there's nothing else we need to talk about until we meet again at the ship."

Melody was silent for some time as she watched Peridot work, she was thinking about the time they had spent with each other and how close they'd gotten. It was this realisation that led Melody to say what she said next.

"You need a name." Peridot almost jumped as she turned around.

"What? Peridot's don't get names!" Peridot yelled.

"Pearls aren't supposed to get names either." Melody smiled.

"I suppose your right." Peridot sighed. "Very well then, I guess if the Authority wouldn't like it then its fine with me. So… since I don't know very much about this whole name thing why don't you name me?"

Melody was shocked for a few seconds before she suddenly went into deep thought. There was only one name that she could think of giving to her friend.

"Spark. Your name is Spark."

"Why Spark?" Peridot asked.

"Because you're bright and energetic and really smart." Melody's complements made Peridot blush.

"Very well then Spark it is!"

Melody and Peridot smiled at each other. Suddenly Peridot pulled out a small sharp green and yellow object from behind her, which she held out in front of her friend.

"Melody listen to me, the last few hours I've spent with you have been… the best moments of my life. It may not look like much but this dagger is actually my most prized possession, it's made of really strong light-weight metals, I should know, I created it."

Spark gently pushed the dagger in to Melody's hand. "I've used it for years, it's been a great help working with some of the more robust machines here on Homeworld, now however I think I want you to have it."

"Think of it as a memento of these days, the days where we worked together against Homeworld, the days where we played together and became friends. Melody know this, no matter what happens to me in the future I'm happy to of met you."

Melody felt her eyes grow moist as she accepted the dagger, she stowed it away quickly before reaching down and enveloping Spark in a warm embrace.

"Thank you, Spark."

"Thank you, Melody." Spark hugged her back.

They remained in each other's embrace for a few seconds before parting.

There was peaceful silence as the two just smiled at each other. Then with a polite nod Melody turned to leave.

"See you soon, Spark."

"See you soon, Melody."

As Melody finally left Spark turned and quietly sighed to herself. "At least I hope I get to see you again…"

Spark sighed again as she prepared for the final day she would have to work for Homeworld and the Diamonds. She knew that no matter what happened, this day would be her last day here.

So for the second time in her life Spark simply took the time to enjoy being alive.

* * *

 _Two Pearls._

 _One green and one blue._

 _The two Pearls were being hunted by what felt like the entire city of Homeworld._

 _When the black goo had been removed from them it had also removed their ID Signals, fortunately stopping them from being identified and tracked by radar._

 _Unfortunately they could still be identified very easily visually as 'those two renegade Pearls'._

 _They knew it was only a matter of time till they were found. Drones patrolling the skies and the streets._

 _Just yesterday the green Pearl had been spotted by one of the drones, causing Homeworld guard soldiers themselves to be deployed in the area to assist in the search._

 _So they had expected to be found soon._

 _But just because they expected it did not mean they could have seen the ambush coming._

 _Two hulking yellow figures draped in shadow, one came from the front of the alleyway, and one came from behind._

 _They were trapped._

 _Both Figures duel wielded heavily customised destabilisers. Compared to the single pitifully weak destabiliser wielded by the blue Pearl._

 _They were doomed._

 _Lightning struck and destabilisers clashed, the two Pearls ducked and dodged with fervour, determined though they were it would not save them against such overwhelming odds._

 _It was all over far too quickly._

 _Shock, confusion, desperation and horror hung heavy overhead._

 _She ran._

 _She ran far far away, carrying her counterpart in her arms._

 _She ran way in to the night._

 _She ran until she had made it out of the city._

 _And she didn't stop running._

 _Hours passed._

 _Days passed._

 _She never stopped running._

 _Like chasing the sunset as if somehow when she arrived everything would be fine again._

 _Until eventually she felt it._

 _A signal._

 _A pull._

 _She stopped, lost and alone with her counterpart in her arms._

 _So with nothing else left she ran towards the signal._

 _With only broken thoughts and an empty heart._

 _She vowed to never stop thinking._

 _To never stop being free._

 _To never forget the Pearl that was to her._

 _A sister._

 _For her she made the vow._

 _The vow to keep on living._


End file.
